It’s ironic – Whole Foods did a great job of teaching all of us that natural and organic are desirable. And for about 30 years, that created a strong, high-margin position for them in the competition to put dinner on your table. Now, though, as I discuss in my recent newsletter, competitors have matched them on the variety of organic material on offer, and beaten them on price. Transient advantage once more.
The newsletter has a look at some of the key trends keeping those in the grocery business up at night, from Amazon experimenting with a bricks-and-mortar format, to the kinds of connections customers expect on social media to the competition that undid Boston Market. We’ll also talk about what executives in those industries might do in the light of these trends.
Later this month, Leading Strategic Growth and Change, my Columbia Executive Education course that features cutting edge practices to drive innovation-led growth, will run. We have participants registered from all over the world, from really interesting companies in a variety of sectors. I’ll be there the whole week – looking forward to it!